"It's just gratifying that people put their faith and trust in me," Bearth said. "And it came home."

The win brings an end to Pulkrabek's run on the board, to which he was first elected in 1998.

He said voters in Washington County may have decided it was time for a change of scenery. Both Pulkrabek and the board's longest serving commissioner - Dennis Hegberg of Forest Lake - lost their races.

"Sometimes the longer you're in office, the more votes you take, the more opportunities you get to upset people," Pulkrabek said. "Maybe that factored into it."

Another possibility voters may have considered was a 2011 criminal case in which Pulkrabek was accused of assaulting his then-girlfriend. He entered an Alford plea to disorderly conduct in the case, which did not require him to plead guilty, but rather concede enough evidence existed for a jury to find him guilty.

Mike Longaecker is the regional public safety reporter for RiverTown Multimedia. His coverage area spans St. Croix and Pierce counties. Longaecker served from 2011-2015 as editor of the Woodbury Bulletin. A University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduate, Longaecker previously reported for the Red Wing Republican Eagle and for the Forum Communications Minnesota Capitol Bureau.
You can follow him on Twitter at @Longaecker